MONROE - The Monroe boys basketball team reminded its home faithful for the last time this season of just what it's capable of at any given moment.
The Cheesemakers scorched the nets, hitting 13 of 15 from the beyond the arc, and banished Evansville in a 71-27 clobbering Thursday in a Division 2 WIAA regional semifinal game at Monroe.
Mitch Tordoff put on a clinic, scoring 16 points with four 3s in the opening period. Evansville (17-5) tried to contain arguably the Badger South's best point guard, but to no avail, as Tordoff made all six of his shots to open the flood gates.
"They're pretty aggressive out top and I thought us just attacking them early on just carried the tempo," Tordoff said.
The Cheesemakers (20-2) drilled their first 10 long-range shots, opening a 24-4 first-quarter advantage. The Blue Devils were forced to try and match Monroe's firepower, but triple after triple clanged off the rim. With only one day of practice to get ready, Monroe head coach Pat Murphy directed a lot of the defensive attention to senior guard Matt McElroy, who scored career-best 32 points against Mount Horeb on Tuesday.
"I feel a little bad for Evansville there," Murphy said. "They probably don't know what hit them there a little bit."
"Our guys were rested. That's one thing you can hang on our guys (is that) we get after somebody defensively."
Monroe's lead got as big as 47 points with three minutes to go on a Zach Rast layup from the left block. Thirteen of the 14 Cheesemakers scored at least two points, with Chase Sellnow the lone player not to register a point, although the senior power forward did some solid work on the offensive glass when Monroe did miss a shot.
Six-foot, 7-inch senior center Tony Cates had 11 points, with seven coming in the third quarter, crippling any Blue Devil thoughts of a second-half comeback. Cates, the self-proclaimed funniest guy on the Cheesemakers' squad, thoroughly enjoyed being in uniform for the game.
"It was a lot of fun," Cates said. "It's always a lot of fun when things seem to be going your way."
Murphy knows that Monroe isn't going to be that white-hot again and wants to make sure to get Cates and the bangers their looks and become the threats they have been in the past.
"We still can't be so outside-oriented. We're still going to need post touches," Murphy said. "Like coach (Brian) Bassett says, 'We don't want to turn into Duke by any means.'"
Senior reserve guard - and student section favorite - Shawn Hart was nearly shut out from the boxscore, but drilled the Cheesemakers' final 3-pointer from left of the circle with seven seconds left to cap the scoring on a packed Senior Night. Hart missed his first attempt, but wanted to fulfill an order given by Murphy.
"During the timeout Murf said he wanted me to try and score," Hart said. "I missed (my) first one, but I just figured if not now, when, right?"
Murphy was extremely pleased to be able to clear his bench and get a significant amount of playing time to the reserves he speaks so highly of almost every postgame. Cullen Sampson led the bench effort with seven points, followed by Bryan Tordoff with six. Seniors Hart and Nate Barta - who finished with two points - epitomize what Murphy and his staff have tried to build in seven seasons.
"Our program has always been about guys sacrificing and nobody's sacrificed more probably than Nate Barta and Shawn Hart," Murphy said. "When you've got guys that care for one another you never know what's going to happen."
What's going to happen next for the Cheesemakers is a regional championship matchup against Edgerton at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in Verona. Edgerton, the regional's No. 2 seed, defeated No. 3 Dodgeville at home Thursday, 57-46.
The Cheesemakers scorched the nets, hitting 13 of 15 from the beyond the arc, and banished Evansville in a 71-27 clobbering Thursday in a Division 2 WIAA regional semifinal game at Monroe.
Mitch Tordoff put on a clinic, scoring 16 points with four 3s in the opening period. Evansville (17-5) tried to contain arguably the Badger South's best point guard, but to no avail, as Tordoff made all six of his shots to open the flood gates.
"They're pretty aggressive out top and I thought us just attacking them early on just carried the tempo," Tordoff said.
The Cheesemakers (20-2) drilled their first 10 long-range shots, opening a 24-4 first-quarter advantage. The Blue Devils were forced to try and match Monroe's firepower, but triple after triple clanged off the rim. With only one day of practice to get ready, Monroe head coach Pat Murphy directed a lot of the defensive attention to senior guard Matt McElroy, who scored career-best 32 points against Mount Horeb on Tuesday.
"I feel a little bad for Evansville there," Murphy said. "They probably don't know what hit them there a little bit."
"Our guys were rested. That's one thing you can hang on our guys (is that) we get after somebody defensively."
Monroe's lead got as big as 47 points with three minutes to go on a Zach Rast layup from the left block. Thirteen of the 14 Cheesemakers scored at least two points, with Chase Sellnow the lone player not to register a point, although the senior power forward did some solid work on the offensive glass when Monroe did miss a shot.
Six-foot, 7-inch senior center Tony Cates had 11 points, with seven coming in the third quarter, crippling any Blue Devil thoughts of a second-half comeback. Cates, the self-proclaimed funniest guy on the Cheesemakers' squad, thoroughly enjoyed being in uniform for the game.
"It was a lot of fun," Cates said. "It's always a lot of fun when things seem to be going your way."
Murphy knows that Monroe isn't going to be that white-hot again and wants to make sure to get Cates and the bangers their looks and become the threats they have been in the past.
"We still can't be so outside-oriented. We're still going to need post touches," Murphy said. "Like coach (Brian) Bassett says, 'We don't want to turn into Duke by any means.'"
Senior reserve guard - and student section favorite - Shawn Hart was nearly shut out from the boxscore, but drilled the Cheesemakers' final 3-pointer from left of the circle with seven seconds left to cap the scoring on a packed Senior Night. Hart missed his first attempt, but wanted to fulfill an order given by Murphy.
"During the timeout Murf said he wanted me to try and score," Hart said. "I missed (my) first one, but I just figured if not now, when, right?"
Murphy was extremely pleased to be able to clear his bench and get a significant amount of playing time to the reserves he speaks so highly of almost every postgame. Cullen Sampson led the bench effort with seven points, followed by Bryan Tordoff with six. Seniors Hart and Nate Barta - who finished with two points - epitomize what Murphy and his staff have tried to build in seven seasons.
"Our program has always been about guys sacrificing and nobody's sacrificed more probably than Nate Barta and Shawn Hart," Murphy said. "When you've got guys that care for one another you never know what's going to happen."
What's going to happen next for the Cheesemakers is a regional championship matchup against Edgerton at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in Verona. Edgerton, the regional's No. 2 seed, defeated No. 3 Dodgeville at home Thursday, 57-46.
